Eighty friends and family to complete half marathon in memory of Northampton man Zac Forskitt

Carly Roberts

Up to 80 family and friends are set to run the Silverstone Half Marathon in memory of a 20-year-old Northampton student who inspired a fund-raising campaign.

Zac Forskitt, of Abington Vale, was diagnosed with two forms of cancer - a tumour on his chest and a rare form of leukaemia - before he passed away in March 2016.

Zac's friends waved a flag at Glastonbury in his memory

On Sunday, March 12 the runners will be taking part in a 13-mile run at Silverstone in a bid to raise £500 for the #BacZac legacy fund, which looks to support young adults and their families who are fighting or who have fought cancer.

Zac's dad, Jason Forskitt, told the Chronicle & Echo that the charity will carry on his son's legacy by hosting events every year.

He said: "The ultimate aim is to save for a holiday home on the coast [for cancer patients and their families].

"When you have all this treatment one thing that you won't be able to do for a while is go abroad, unless you're very wealthy, because of insurance costs.

"Whether it be a patient going there after treatment or somebody in a family who has lost somebody.

"We have thought about being able to reach that kind of money or whether we carry on for a number of years and then buy something more substantial like a lodge or a holiday house sort of thing."

Following the announcement of Zac's death back in March 2016, BacZac Facebook posts reached 410,000 people.

Hundreds of people paid tribute to the sportsman at his 'celebration of life' service, which was held at Northampton Saints’ home ground back in April.

When asking Mr Forskitt what Zac was like as a person, he added: "He was constantly wanted to be busy.

"Even as a youngster he would say 'what are we doing next dad?' 'What are we doing tomorrow?' He had got such a vast amount of friends from all walks of life. If somebody said, 'Do you want to do this Zac?' he’d say, 'Yes let’s do it'."

As well as rugby, Zac also had a passion for cricket and music and attended Glastonbury festival with his friends and watched Coldplay perform at the Ricoh arena with his dad.

He said: "We could have a real laugh, he had such a good sense of humour. I used to love making him and Beth [Zac's sister] laugh. He was a good lad, you know, he had to really work hard for his exam results but he worked hard because he wanted to go to uni."

Zac was a student at Nottingham Trent University where he studied journalism for a year.

Last month, Zac's family made an emotional trip to Italy to scatter his ashes at the bottom of the Matterhorn.

This is a place where Zac would spend precious moments with his girlfriend after he met her on ski-season.

"It’s weird how next month it’s been a year. It seems like every day is awful but it has somehow sort of flown by. We still can’t believe he’s gone."

To donate to the cause: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/baczac-hislegacy-halfmarathon